HTC's chairwoman Cher Wang announced on Tuesday that the HTC One released in 2013 "was HTC's best-selling phone ever". The occasion was the release of its successor, the HTC One M8.

To some this may seem surprising, given that HTC recorded its first annual net loss in 2013 of US$75m on revenues down 30% to US$6.96bn. The number of smartphones that it shipped fell by 29%, according to the research company IDC, even as the smartphone market grew 39%.

Yet Wang's statement is true, IDC confirms: the HTC One shipped 6.4m units from its launch in April 2013, more than any before it.

But Francisco Jeronimo, IDC's European smartphone analyst, contrasted that with other top-end smartphones, such as Apple's iPhone 5 - which shipped 62.9m units in 2013 - and iPhone 5S, released in September (39.5m), as well as Samsung's Galaxy S4, which went on sale in late April 2013 (43.3m).

In all, HTC shipped a total of just 22.6m units of all its phones in the whole of 2013, says IDC "The HTC One 2014 has a lot to catch up in 2014," commented Jeronimo. Overall, the smartphone market in 2013 grew to around a billion units - including a substantial market in China, where HTC has struggled to eke out a mid-market position.

HTC monthly revenue, by year, since 2008. Figures are in millions of New Taiwan dollars (1 TWD is about 0.035 USD). Photograph: /Guardian

For HTC, the past two years have been painful. Its revenues have plummeted. It has begun 2014 with monthly revenues that are the smallest since 2007 (Taiwanese stock market-listed companies are obliged to file monthly revenue, though not profit, data).

The question now is whether the HTC One M8 can help the company to regain the high ground that it used to share with Apple and Samsung.

Ben Wood of the analysts CCS Insight commented: "the M8 must capitalise on the distinctive design and premium materials used on the device, especially in comparison with those of its rivals. A major goal will be to capture consumers upgrading from Samsung's Galaxy S III." Those buyers would have bought their phone in spring 2012 - and will now be coming to the end of two-year contracts.

While HTC is pleased to have got agreements from 230 carriers to sell the phone at once, its executives were hugely displeased with the leaks that came ahead of the launch - even though it's suspected that some of the leaks were the result of sending the phone to carriers and having it available in so many outlets.

Speaking before the launch, Peter Frolund, head of HTC's UK operations, told the Guardian: "We don't like leaks, we want to entertain and surprise. We appreciate interest, but we want to avoid the leaks, but we're in an industry where the focus is on devices and the attention is gigantic. We investigate all leaks."

Leaks and broken NDAs [non-disclosure agreements] have concrete financial harm, said Jeff Gordon, HTC's senior global online communications manager, as the company pursued Roshan Jamkatel, a teenage boy who uploaded a 12-minute video showing off the specifications of the M8 to YouTube at the beginning of March.

HTC was also insistent at the launch that the revelations and continued series of leaks from multiple sources were not the same as using the phone. Phil Blair, head of HTC's European and Middle East operations, told the audience at the launch: "You might say you've seen our new superphone, but that's like saying you've seen your favourite band because you've seen them in a YouTube clip."